“Billy Ragone drops back and hands it off to Bam Colavita, who runs it up the middle for a four-yard gain.”
To the average football fan, such a play doesn’t get the heart racing too fast, but for coach Al Bagnoli, a run up the middle for a few yards is his lifeblood.
Over the last four years, Bagnoli’s offense has run the ball an average of 405 times, or 40-odd times per game. Go back to 2001 and that number stabilizes at 382.
For perspective, last year, national champion Alabama rushed the ball an average of 40 times a game.
Over the last few years, Bagnoli has had a stable of quality backs to work with.
But suddenly, with Jeff Jack having graduated and Lyle Marsh off the team to deal with academic issues, the stable seems to hold just one prized stallion in fifth-year senior Brandon Colavita, who returns from injury ready to go.
“They were two incredibly experienced running backs who made a huge impact on our team and on these past championships in recent years,” Colavita said. “It’s a huge loss no matter how you look at it.”
When Colavita had to sit for most of last year due to injury, Marsh and Jack picked up his slack, combining for 195 of the team’s 378 rushes last season.
Now, Colavita is back and healthy, and he’ll be sure to get his carries in Bagnoli’s offense. In his two years as the main back in Penn’s offense, he averaged 134.5 carries each year.
Just as Colavita will touch the rock about 13 times per contest out of the backfield, fellow fifth-year senior quarterback Billy Ragone will rush almost as often.
Ragone reached a season-high in carries last year with 114 before hurting his ankle in the team’s game against Harvard late in the season. On average, Ragone pulls 102 carries each year.
Do some easy math and it becomes clear that Penn will have to find about 150 carries from other players besides Colavita and Ragone.
Enter junior Spencer Kulcsar and sophomore Mike Elespuru.
These two running backs will fill into Colavita’s spot when he needs a breather or potentially on a passing situation on third down.
The question marks arise when looking at how few carries the two backs have between them.
Elespuru saw game action last season, but never received any carries. Unlike Colavita, who is primarily a downhill runner, “I can do a little bit of everything,” Elespuru said.
Meanwhile Kulcsar ran the ball ten times last season. His biggest game was against Villanova, where he rushed for 55 yards on two carries.
“Being able to see what I was able to do against them gave me a lot of confidence going into the spring, coming into camp this fall,” Kulcsar said. “I’m excited to see what I can do.”
If Bagnoli follows his general trend, Kulcsar, the more experienced back of the two, will receive between 90 to 100 carries, with Elespuru capping off the load.
Despite the lack of experience from the backs with whom he’ll be platooning, Colavita is confident in their abilities.
“We’re confident in the stable in general, with the personnel that can fill into those roles,” Colavita said.
Putting so much weight on players without much experience could be seen as poor planning on Bagnoli’s part, but these two backs have learned the game from Colavita, who knows the Ivy League better than anyone and has been incredibly helpful in the role of teacher.
“Brandon really assumed the role of coach as well as leader on the running backs group,” Elespuru said. “We all follow after him. His work ethic is second to none. We all look to that and try to do the same thing he does.”
Wanting to limit his own impact on the young backs’ development, Colavita assured that no matter what you teach on paper, “running back is an instinctual position.”
One of the things Kulcsar and Elespuru may not be able to learn from Colavita is the ability to catch balls out of the backfield and in the slot. That was a skill that Lyle Marsh excelled at, as he served as Ragone’s outlet so often last season.
“Versatility at the running back position is huge,” Colavita said. “When you have a running back like Lyle, you can play out of the slot and make an impact. It’s a huge role to have.
“I feel like Spencer or I or Mike can fill that role. It’s just going to take some time for us to adjust as well.”
While question marks surely exist about the group, over the years Bagnoli has shown that he sticks to his principles and hopes his personnel can step up.
If the amount of Ivy titles he’s won are any indication, more often than not, his players answer the call.
SEE ALSO
Penn football’s fight for four
Penn football’s young D-line Cope-ing with inexperience
Penn’s defensive backs are oldies AND goodies
An in-depth look at the depth chart for Penn football
30 Second with junior linebacker Dan Davis
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